Archive for the ‘resources’ Category
The 10 rules of painless procurement - from both sides
Monday, November 15th, 2010
The 10 rules of painless procurement - from both side
A few weeks ago I picked up on a tweet about the tender process from @
As we had all been involved in the procurement process (from both sides) we decided to come up with a few tips on how to manage the process - if you are looking to submit a tender or if you are looking for a supplier.
We used a shared google doc to come up with several ideas, tips, experiences and these are our top 10 for both! I hope that you find it useful.
by Scott Hewitt, Tim McShane and Kevin Mulryne
scott.hewitt@realprojects.co.uk
kevin@mulryne.com
tim@fluffyclouds.co.uk
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Rules for bidders (tendering for work and filling in the forms) |
Rules for clients (writing the tender docs and running the tender process) |
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1 Make sure you are in possession of all the available facts
Ask to see the grid the team will be using to judge the bid so you can make sure you have each area covered. |
1 Know what you want
Ideas cost money and time. If you don’t know what you need it’s a specification that you should write, not a tender. |
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2 It’s all in the preparation
Read the given criteria carefully and plan to match what you are producing as closely to the requirements as you can.
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2 Tell bidders if they are likely to be wasting their time
If you are going to have a threshold based on company turnover (or some other criteria which will automatically exclude bidders) let people know.
Why allow people to write a whole tender when they are never really able to be a supplier? |
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3 Be sensible with your time - and money
If you don’t like the tender, project or the idea behind it - don’t submit a response! |
3 Be open about your requirements
If you want environment, QHSE policy etc. explain why you want them and the relevance to the tender.
Provide bidders with a scoring matrix so they can concentrate their efforts on what you think is important. |
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4 Pay attention to the process of filling in the form
Make sure you have plenty of time to write the whole return - uneven sections read badly and create a bad impression.
If it’s an online form, go in and get the questions then create answers offline to copy and paste in later - don’t try and compose answers ‘live’ on the system. |
4 Give bidders some guidance on word count
Consider limiting the number of words for each question - this will make returns easier to compare and focus bidders’ attention on what you think is important. |
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5 Be a bit pedantic about language
Check spelling, punctuation and grammar - mistakes can put off the more exacting employers - or those who are looking for ways to differentiate between close competitors. |
5 Make it simple
The PQQ is meant to be an introductory, pre-qualification process. 40 page documents are not helpful to anyone. You will get stock answers.
Why not have an initial, high-level PQQ that covers the main important issues? If you pass that then provide the more detailed PQQ. |
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6 Answer the questions which are asked, where they are asked
Answer the questions which are given - don’t give ‘stock’ answers copied from elsewhere.
In multi-part tender returns, write a new answer for each section - don’t copy and paste between sections as they will probably be read by the same rater and this can give a negative impression.
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6 Be transparent about money
While you want best value, providing an indicative budget allows clients to be innovative within a framework.
If you have a budget of £20k and then receive ideas which cost £60k that you can’t use everyone has wasted their time and effort. |
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7 Keep it real
Only use real evidence - exaggerated or invented experience can be checked - especially when you are in a small area of work - the rater may well know the situation you are exaggerating/inventing details about! |
7 Keep it real
Don’t run a procurement process and ask for tenders if you don’t have the budget to do the project.
Also just getting quotes for comparison and having no intention of using the client for a real project is unfair. |
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8 Raters are people too!
Remember that if a team are looking at a bid then some of them won’t be experts in every area so write for them as well as for the experts. |
8 Use realistic and fair timescales
Be sensible about your time deadline. People need time to put a tender together.
Also if you set the tender make sure that you meet your own deadline for feedback and decisions. |
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9 Use your best people
Each section of a bid will be reviewed - potentially by an expert. Get an expert at your end to look at the bid so it isn’t obvious that sufficient time hasn’t been spent on key sections.
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9 Respect your bidders
Provide detailed feedback on successful and unsuccessful tenders.
Respect ideas and concepts within a tender response. If you want to use them, you should pay for them! |
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10 Check it…and then check it again
Make sure you check the document you are sending out. One of us found someone’s comments left in saying, “No one will read this section so just put anything in.” Needless to say….
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10 Play nicely
It’s a relationship - you both need each other. Be clear about what you both want from the project. |
Game Based Learning – What does this mean to you?
Wednesday, June 16th, 2010
First blog post for a while…
I started working in e-learning and games in the 90’s. During this time we have seen some amazing technical advantages and also seen some interesting advances within e-learning. In recent years games based learning or GBL has been a trend subject.
Game Based Learning does not only mean using games and hardware, game theory can be applied to e-learning design and your own resource development. Games are hugely popular across the world, the design of games does involve a development methodology and some of the elements may interest you.
For many people game based learning makes them think about brain train on their Nintendo DSi or something that is not serious. However there is another element of games and games design that is often missed – game theory. Within the development of computer games a whole range of skills are involved from creative writers, graphics designers, script writers, level designers and programmers. Here is a brief look at 4 elements of game theory that I consider when developing an e-learning or game based learning resource.
Reward
Nintendo has been using rewards within its games for several years. It you have played anyone of the super Mario titles you will be familiar with collecting golden coins as you move around the level or game. Even at the most basic skill level you can collate huge numbers of coins and you coins are freely available within the level.
As you collect coins these are converted into points or can be used within the game economy. The use of reward can also encourage the user to explore the level further in the quest for rewards. The placement of the coins can encourage exploration to areas that the user may previously have not thought of. This allows you as a designer to introduce other games elements, skills and content for those who have found them.
Within reward systems and game design Operant Conditioning is widely discussed and its principles influence many designers. This quote from gamedev.net describes it neatly
“Operant conditioning is the psychological principle that states that a person is motivated to do or not do an action based on whether they have been rewarded or punished for that action in the past. Operant conditioning principles also explain how to schedule rewards in order to maximize motivation to perform the action.”
Economy
At an end of a level users are often rewarded with their performance in terms of score. Some games also use the concept of the game economy. This allows users to ‘spend’ the reward points that they have collected. Depending on the game or resources this might be opened other levels, improving character performance or changing their appearance.
The use of an economy connects the user back to their achievements gradually, allowing them to be reward for smaller achievements and being able to receive benefit from them. In a recent e-learning course each time the learner completed the activity within each section they received a credit. Once they had completed the resource if they had the right number of credits we allowed them to play a ‘hidden’ game. This generated a buzz within the learner community who discussed how you accessed the end game. The only way to access the end game was if you had collected all of the credits. Learners were pleased about their reward at the end of the game and it generated a buzz around the learner community who also wanted to play the end game.
Recuperation
In many of the early arcade games you had 3 lives (attempts) to complete the game. For anyone of you who have played games like pitfall, nemisis, pac world or donkey kong you will remember what a challenge it was to move along the levels with only 3 lives! Recent games design has moved on, introducing the concept of health, allowing the user to continue their journey across the level even if they have made a mistake. The use of health does make the experience more realistic, increasing the game experience and encourages gamers to consider their actions in game.
Whilst it is still possible to lose all of your health, you may also have the opportunity to get additional health points back, often by completing a challenge. This allows the user to continue their game experience, stay engaged and learn about how their actions will affect their experience.
The game Gauntlet was one of the first games to use the concept of health to allow games to lose health and remain in game. It also allowed gamers to create health points as they moved through the level. This is a an interesting game to review as it was a game that could be played with up to 4 people sharing skill and health points to complete the level.
Problem Solving
The games industry has created games such as tetris and brain training that have all been involved around problem solving. However problem solving is a key element of all games from sports titles to simulations. The problem solving is gradual to allow the learner to develop their skills and then be presented with larger challenges as the game develops.
From my perspective I have been interested to see how internet based games have brought people together to play online games together and solve problems. Users will come across a rule or problem which is stopping progress, with other gamers then can create a strategy or discuss tactics. From this then can then develop a solution that allows them to more forward.
I have reviewed and studied many games to see how they have encourage groups of users to come together to solve problems and I’ve used many of these techniques in my own work. One of the early multi-player arcade game was called Gauntlet and it needed players to work together to reach the end of the stage. The game could be played on your own but it was a much rich and immersive experience when you added other users.
There is so much to game based learning and games design, you might have a different view. For me it involves taking elements of game design, game theory and development to enrich any e-learning resource, not just a ’serious’ game.
40 applications in 40 minutes
Friday, October 30th, 2009
40 apps in 40 minutes
For the latest Norfolk e-learning forum I decided that we should run a session on open source and free software tools. There are so many well known open source and free tools in use such as Moodle and WordPress that setting up the session was a challenge.
I settled on 40 applications in 40 minutes. A whirlwind tour of 40 of our favourite free applications that would hopefully offer something for everyone! I had a list of personal favourites that I needed to add to and spent a few afternoons searching the web for some new additions. After only a few hours I was amazed and the sheer number of free apps and also the quality of the apps. One of the first new apps I found was the awesome highlighter, a brilliant website that lets you mark up and highlight a website – allowing you to copy & paste, save the link and share with colleagues. A really simple idea with so many applications, you can use it in the classroom, presentations theatre or during development meetings.
40 in 40 was pretty fast paced and there wasn’t much time to look at anything in detail other than a couple of videos that I created in xtranormal and animoto to show what was possible.
The response to the session has been great with several people adding their own applications to the list and more commenting that they didn’t realise how many of these apps were available on the internet.
During the session I worked on the basis that if you didn’t like an app or wouldn’t find it useful there was another coming in less than a minute! We published the list on the real projects website alongside our other resources.
My top 3 are
There are so many ways in which you can use the applications and it was great to listen in on some of the discussions afterwards. I’ve seen xtranormal used an an online icebreaker, animation software, for product demonstrations, adverts and for teaching! The awesome highlighter can be used by the web designer and client or the teacher in class.
As I come across more I’ll add them to the list!
What is one hour of e-learning?
Tuesday, September 29th, 2009
One hour or 60 minutes or 3600 seconds, the hour is the standard by which elearning development costs appear to be measured. I’ve read with interest several blog posts about development cost per hour but what exactly is an hour of elearning and how is it measured?
In an industry it is valuable to have a benchmark or standard against which price and quality comparisons can be made but with the advances in technology and the range of development tools available is the hour still relevant?
We read and are told that learners work at different speeds at different times and in different ways yet the one hour matrix is readily applied. I’m interested in what constitutes the hour? Is it the time the learner uses the course? Are we using an average? For the development company is it number of screens x number of minutes? I’m not sure of the answer but I’m conscious that as we deliver on different platforms in different modes to an ever wider learner group that an hour used as a standard could be misleading if it’s not applied consistently and everyone knows how it is measured.
Often I read a blog post about company x who are paying £ 000’s for an hour of elearning and want to know whether it represents value. I don’t think that you can make an accurate assessment without knowing more information including the full details of what the developer is being asked to do. Development time using Rapid tools is widely regarded as being less than custom work and its only when you factor in all of the development tasks only then can you start to make an assessment.
In a creative industry like e-learning benchmarking costs will always be a challenging task but perhaps it’s time to think about a basic formula that will provide a base for suppliers and developers to work from.
top 10 website resources
Wednesday, July 1st, 2009
Following on from our top 10 e-learning resources here is our top 10 website resources. These are the sites that we find useful and we use them most days. Everyone in the office has a favourite site and they all feature in the list. Today I’ve been on the Edge website and found out that the sequel to wii sports is the fastest selling game in Japan and Futurelab have more free resources that you can download….and FWA have uploaded their site of the day.
Enjoy!
This website has a design focus but is packed full of free resources and tutorials. This is a great place if you are looking for ideas and inspiration. The free resources that have been submitted cover a wide range of uses from Wordpress themes to Icon sets.
The images are not free, but the prices are low and the image quality is good. A vast range of images, icons, videos and stock assets that come in useful.
TED comes up on a number of our lists but we keep on finding it useful! A great website to view some inspirational thinkers and to get inspired. Our favourites is still the Jonny Lee remote control.
A whole host of videos for a range of subjects. Our current favourite is the Royal Navy using computer games during submarine training courses.
You’ll need an iphone or an ipod touch but if you are ever on the move and need to find something out there will be an app for it. We’ve downloaded GPS devices, flight trackers, games, training apps, News feeds and something that turns the iphone into a torch.
The home of Edge magazine, if you want to find out something about the videogame industry this website has all the news alongside some great articles.
Innovation in Education
Offering a host of whitepapers, articles, links and a lot more. Futurelab also have a range of printed support materials including posters. We’ve just got hold of the their game based learning poster
Harvard Business Working Knowledge
Subscribe to the email for details of the latest papers or download the podcast to listen to interviews. Covers a wide range of business topics and all in manageable chunks.
Ok, we are a little biased with this one! We are able to get some great speakers to come along to our events, some of who you might never have heard of but they all provide us with great resources from their presentations.
The favourite website awards. Every day they upload a new website for you to look at. Not strictly anything to take away or download but this site will provide you with a whole host of ideas if you are stuck on your next design project.